Assessment and development of conservation policies in Scotland

Summary Existing special mechanisms for the protection of plants are very limited in their scope. The UKBAP is potentially much stronger but depends on close collaboration between the conservation agencies and voluntary groups to fill our skills gaps especially for lower plants. Currently there are provisions for the list of UKBAP priority species to develop with changing needs only in England and Wales. Appropriate monitoring should increase the effectiveness of SSSI in protecting plants but plants will not be monitored on those sites where the citation fails to mention a valid plant feature. Lower plants are particularly poorly represented on existing citations. A change in the law in England and Wales permits citations to be revised there without site renotification. We could do more to effectively protect plants by targeting threatened plant populations by making small and isolated populations a priority for remedial management; by intervening when significant populations of a wider range of species are threatened by change and by restoring populations of species which are locally important but do not register on any national lists. Direct intervention can be a very cost-effective way to ensure the survival and enhancement of species. Botanists need to debate their views on this.